While it's easy to go off half-cocked or to jump blindly into an emotionally charged issue, the better path is one of deliberation and careful consideration. The big government, progressive side are masters of distraction and deception. Without pausing to meditate for a bit, we risk jumping the gun or making rash choices. Only reactionary people, those ruled by emotions, can get away with hastily spoken words as they are never held to account for them.

When I first got word of the Bureau of Land Management plans to seize the cattle of Cliven Bundy near Bunkerville, Nevada, my gut told me that something hinky was afoot. The recent history lessons of Federal bureaucracies bullying the citizen under color of law are fresh enough in my mind to inspire a healthy case of cynicism. I have long since stopped accepting the official party line from any Federal Government agency.

The old cop in me also knows that when caught in the wrong, the first thing the accused will do is attempt to deflect guilt to someone else. Rarely is anyone completely innocent. Yes, some are, but in most cases the accused somehow contributed to the action in question, even if not 100 percent culpable. This is how I initially approached the Bundy vs. BLM story. I now have several questions that I would ask anyone who is willing to thoughtfully consider the situation.

“You know, I never thought that. When they wear out we just turn them in and get new ones.” The speaker was a Special Forces Operator with more than a decade’s experience fighting in Iraq and then Afghanistan. The topic of our conversations was silencer maintenance (suppressor if that makes you feel better).

Let’s face it; if you aren’t spending taxpayer money for your cans, you want them to last as long as possible. What are a silencers two worst enemies? Heat and corrosion. While you cannot reduce the heat produced by the 5.56, .308, or whichever cartridge you choose, you can ensure they are treated with some type of lubricant that will stick to them.

Depending on the manufacturer in question, suppressors can be made of stainless steel, Titanium, and aluminum to include a combination of all three. Most modern cans can be run ‘wet’ or ‘dry’. The ‘wet’ material can be water, wire lube, CLP, gun oil, etc. I’ve heard innumerable recommendations for running cans ‘wet’. Naturally, water will evaporate very quickly. Thin petroleum based products will eventually get hot enough to evaporate or bake off, just like they do on the gun.

Full disclosure, this review is yet another excuse for me to engage in one of my all time favorite activities; shooting a precision bolt-action rifle. Regular readers will know by now that the bolt gun is one of my many passions. I don't claim to be an expert, simply a dedicated and devoted student of the gun. My love affair with the M40 sniper rifle began twenty plus years ago.

In the spring of 1990 I was one a few men selected from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 6th Marines, to attend Rifle and Pistol Marksmanship Coaches School at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. We moved out to the temporary barracks at the Stone Bay Weapon Training facility. For two weeks we ate, slept, and breathed marksmanship and training. I was truly in my element.

My first glimpse at the Olive Drab Beauty came when we were drawing our M-16A2 rifles for range time. Stone Bay was where the 2nd Marine Division snipers did their training. The custom-built M40 sniper rifles were aligned in racks in a designated section of the armory. I recall watching the Sniper School candidates drawing their rifles and heading out to training. I know its a sin, but I felt a tinge of jealousy.

They say you never forget your first love. I've stated before that the first gun I ever purchased was a Ruger 10/22 rifle on my 18th birthday. Coincidentally, when I was a eighteen years old I worked at a record store. (For the youngins out there, 'records' were black vinyl discs that you'd spin around on a turntable and music could be heard) That record store was owned by a woman whose husband was into the outdoors and shooting. When he discovered we shared similar interests, he showed me his Ruger MkII .22LR pistol. Although I had a pretty fair amount of experience with a .22 rifle and shotguns, I was essentially a novice when it came to handguns.

One Saturday afternoon we loaded up into Mike's pickup truck and drove to the county landfill, otherwise known as the 'rimfire shooting gallery'. In addition to the requisite soup cans, beer bottles and the like, people would discard their old appliances, refrigerators, etc. A freshly disposed of appliance, free of bullet holes, was a prize to be sure. Mike explained the operation of the Ruger pistol, how to hold it and aim it. We started with relatively large targets. When those became too easy, he moved me on to pop and tin cans.

Nearly thirty years has gone by now and I can still recall that day. I found that I had a knack for handgun shooting. My eyes were young and clear and my reflexes sharp. That Ruger MkII seemed to me to be the perfect .22LR handgun. Mike let me shoot his Ruger pistol several times after that first day. Though I was still three years shy of being able to purchase one myself, but I put it on my 'to do' list.

I grew up in the north. My youth was spent in Detroit, Michigan and my teen years in north central Ohio. In other words, I am intimately familiar with long winters. When I was young I specifically remember my mother and father keeping a cardboard box of winter-time emergency supplies in the trunk of our family car.

My mom made sure there was an old blanket and she’d stuff the box with extra pairs of mittens and knit hats, just in case. My dad would put a bag of rock salt in the trunk and a short handled flat shovel. My parents weren’t “doomsday preppers”, they just knew that winter weather was unpredictable and sometimes you might get stuck. I remember my grandfather keeping snow-chains for the car tires in the trunk of his Buick.

I must confess I’ve never been much of a ‘joiner’. Most of my life I’ve been an independent thinker, some might say a loner. I rarely feel compelled to join a group or organization, even if I agree with their stance. Whatever descriptor you like, I’ve never been one of the “insiders” regardless of my endeavors. My lovely spouse might credit this situation to my inability to keep my thoughts and opinions to myself.

Not that I have never declared allegiance, I did so twice with the United States Marine Corps when I took the oath of enlistment and then re-enlisted. I took various oaths of allegiance when I was sworn in as a State Certified Peace Officer. If you want to take a trip back in time with me, I swore an allegiance to God when I was confirmed into the Lutheran Church at age fourteen. These oaths and promises of allegiance were not made to objects, but to principles and ideals.

It is no secret that the hottest topic on the minds of ‘gun owners’ across the United States is “2nd Amendment Rights”. When the topic of the 2nd Amendment comes up, I’m want to reply that I am fond of that entire Bill of Rights and by extension the United States Constitution and the principles upon which this nation was founded.

If you are a gun guy or girl the chances are high that you have one, perhaps more than one, rifle or shotgun that you’d like to refinish. You may have even considered refinishing the gun on several occasions but always talked yourself out if it due to the cost of paying someone else to do it or the perceived difficulty of doing it yourself.

Let’s face it; few folks are going to pay a shop one to two hundred dollars to put a new finish on a gun that might only be worth a couple hundred dollars. That’s like investing in a new paint job on a ten year old pickup truck. Most people can’t talk themselves into spending that much money.

What about investing thirty or forty dollars in a professional looking gun finish? Could you swing that much to make that old, hand-me-down shotgun look new again?

Madison Rising, "America's most patriotic rock band," performed their version of the National Anthem for Nationwide at NASCAR on Saturday. They are taking heat from some "news" sources on their performance. USA Today says, "Unfortunately, Madison Rising went ahead and performed the most ridiculous version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” since Roseanne Barr committed a crime against the song however many years back."

Play the video above to hear their version of the song. The performance at NASCAR on Saturday was identical to the recorded version that appears on their album, American Hero.

Believe it or not, I truly do try to stay away from Internet arguments or debates. Not that I'm always successful, but I do try. Opinions offered on various blogs and forums are akin to a rectal orifice, everyone has one and they vary tremendously in olfactory quality. For that reason, when an acquaintance forwarded a video link that slammed a product built by Tactical Rifles of Zephyrhills, Florida I dismissed it and moved on with my life.

The fecal storm surrounding this video, promoted vehemently on a certain gun form, has taken on a life of its own. Therefore, I cannot with good conscience stand at the sidelines without comment.

First Experience

My first experience with Tactical Rifles was approximately ten years ago. At the time, in addition to my work as a police officer, I was writing actively for a number of firearms and LE journals. David Rooney, President/Founder, of Tactical Rifles called me up one day and asked if I had time to chat. David had recently started advertising with one of the many publishing houses for whom I wrote. The publishers had asked Mr. Rooney to send a rifle to one of their writers for a review, but David didn't want to send it off blindly to a stranger. We spoke for a half-hour or so, David asked me about my background, training, and experience with precision rifles. Essentially, Rooney was concerned with sending a custom built precision rifle to someone that might not be able to appreciate such an item. This was before I had graduated from LE Sniper School, so I related my Marine Corps training and experience and put his fears to rest. A Tactical Rifles custom M40 arrived at my FFL dealer a week later.

"I hope I never need to use this." I must hear this ten times a day at our gun shop. A person walks in and as they are buying a gun, they are also trying to rationalize their loser mindset. Of course you hope you never have to use it. Come on, when are we going to hear something like this; “Oh, boy… I have a gun. I hope someone tries to attack me”. That customer will shoot the gun a few times and then it will most likely live the rest of its life in an underwear drawer.

For every 100 students that go through our Tactical Pistol course we get maybe one to show interest in our Trauma Medical Course. I find this to be true with all instructors that teach shooting and tactical medicine. It’s not sexy, it does not make loud gun noises. However if you carry a tool that makes holes in things (a gun), and you are not prepared to plug holes that are caused by such a tool, then you, my friend, are preparing to fail. “I don’t plan to be in a gunfight.” Again, wrong attitude. If you have to drive 30 miles to your favorite range and have an accident, think about how short your life expectancy will be. And yeah, no one is planning to have a gunfight that day, but most of the time the gunfight comes to you when you least expect it.

Our old store was on the busiest highway in our county. On average there was a car accident every 3 months or so only 400 feet from our front door. One of these actually occurred in the last 2 hrs of a trauma medical class I was teaching and I took 16 students out to triage and assist as needed until EMS arrived. Talk about an awesome graduation exercise! I take pictures of all of these accidents (keeping faces out of the picture) to use as training tools and to do an honest evaluation of my performance so I continue to improve my own tactics. To those new to trauma medicine, to hear me talk of “Getting to practice my skills every 3 months" sounds morbid, but think of it this way: The more I practice, the better I get. If I happen to come across your car accident or accidental shooting or negligent discharge at the firing range, how good do you want me to be?